


Beside the Gloss

by FriendlyCybird



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Mirrors Edge AU, implied PTSD, philosophy of rebellion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-02-16
Packaged: 2018-09-25 00:48:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9794936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FriendlyCybird/pseuds/FriendlyCybird
Summary: Gavin is a runner. Ryan is his client. They don't interact often. This is the story of the times they do.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stubbornessissues](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stubbornessissues/gifts).



Getting Ryan Haywood as a client was either a Runner’s dream or a Runner’s nightmare and Gavin Free hadn’t quite made up his mind which. At first he’d seemed naive. Demanding. A bit soft, in action and in body. Honestly Gavin hadn’t been impressed.

“Do you want some coffee?” Unbelievable, really. But there he was. Big, blue eyes blinking at Gavin like it was the most innocent visit in the world. “I...don’t drink it but there’s a pot in the breakroom, I could just…” he trailed off under Gavin’s stare. Gavin just wished he’d shown up an hour later and picked up the package from a drop location. 

“You want to leave me alone in your office?” 

“We’re on the same side.” 

The exchange had been so brief, but strangely meaningful. The coffee had been surprisingly not bad for office coffee too. Ryan had offered Gavin a seat while he finished transferring data to an external drive that Gavin would be carrying. Gavin watched without properly watching, finding himself focused mostly on Ryan’s hands. 

“You’re not even a little curious?” 

Apparently the client had been following his gaze. A bit disturbing. “It’s subversive enough.” Gavin answered, “Otherwise I wouldn’t be here.” 

“That’s really your only moral code?” Ryan challenged. “You know, every so often you still run into the occasional law that’s still meant to keep people safe.” 

Gavin bristled. “Stop playing devil’s advocate and hand me the bloody package.” 

Ryan nodded, and handed over the drive “The package, and…” he paused and offered something else. A small jar. Medicine. “For you.” 

“Why?” Gavin asked, taking the jar and studying it. It was a sort of muscle rub, good stuff actually. For joint pain and things.

“I’ve seen how your type land sometimes, don’t tell me you can ever have too much of that stuff.” 

Gavin pocketed the jar. “Fair Play.” he stood and secured the drive as well. “I’m off.” 

He felt Ryan’s eyes on him a good deal longer than he would have liked. 

That would have been the last time they saw each other, if Gavin were able to keep partnership with other runners. Some were too loud, others just not committed enough… sometimes things happened. Things he just didn’t want to see again, so now Gavin worked alone. That meant not having go betweens with clients. Not even Ryan. Gavin tried not to visit too often. Have Ryan leave the package somewhere for him to pick up. He didn’t expect to be quite so acutely aware he was avoiding a client. 

\-----

Initially, Ryan didn’t prefer Gavin over other runners. He assumed he’d be as kind to any of them. They were the ones who put their bodies on the line for what they believed, after all. There was a debt Ryan owed them, for doing what he couldn’t. Wouldn’t, rather.

Keep your head down, only speak up where and when it’s safe. Live your life, fight from the inside. It had worked so far for Ryan, but only so far as he had an argument when his cognitive dissonance started telling him he’d sold his soul for corruption. He lived for the rare days that the information he leaked was run into the right hands to make some slight change in the world, barely perceptible in the news behind the wall of propaganda. 

He only actually saw Gavin a handful of times after that, despite having come to rely on him almost exclusively over what he only realized were passing years on special occasions. 

It was one such special occasion, his thirty-second birthday, that Ryan and Gavin first met in a context outside the strict lines of client and runner. 

\-----

Laughter in the hall. A sudden start and the tiniest flash of movement. Gavin hissed with pain as he crouched behind Ryan’s desk, angled to be hidden from both door and window. 

Moving like that on his ankle right now hadn’t been smart. Just reflex. And he hadn’t even properly hidden, the open first aid kit was still prominently visible beside the sofa. There were multiple voices laughing. Ryan wasn’t alone. 

“As much as I didn’t need the reminder, I appreciated the effort.” he could make out Ryan saying, tone joyous. Something twisted in Gavin’s throat hearing him so happy. A sort of bitterness he wouldn’t take the time to examine right then. Gavin couldn’t quite make out the words of the other men in the hall, but Ryan responded “Absolutely. ...as long as your birthday isn’t classified.” he was joking, but Gavin could hear an edge in his voice that was clearly not intended as perceptible. 

The only other man in the exchange responded with an exact date. February 22nd. The ladies with him made a few other comments, all muffled by the door as Ryan started to open it. 

“I’ll be sure to remember…” his voice was perfectly clear before it stopped suddenly. Then continued smoothly with only the slightest change in tenor. “But I have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it if I want to celebrate anywhere but the office, you know?” 

“Ryan are you implying you actually have plans?” one of the girls gasped mockingly. Gavin resisted taking a peek.

“I’m implying I have a life outside of work, yes.” Ryan answered. His tone was still light but threatening to go darker. Gavin was surprised how hard his stomach dropped when he heard him say “maybe I’ll include you in it sometime.” just shy of flirtatiously.

“Oh really?” the girl almost purred and the other man interjected hurriedly, rushing the girl away to let Ryan work with some disparaging comment about office romances. 

Ryan snorted when he closed the door. Then he waited several beats. Long enough for Gavin’s injured ankle to weaken under him in this position. Shifting his weight made a soft noise, which Ryan responded to with a soft “Hello?” Gavin held his breath, suddenly uncertain. “I’m not going to hurt you.” was the next reassurance, and while at no point had he expected otherwise, Gavin relaxed so suddenly at those words he collapsed flat on his ass.

Ryan rushed to him, dropping a tray of some kind on the desk as he got close and Gavin looked up. “Sorry.” he started “Needed to stop somewhere, found a window I knew a sympathetic face was behind…” he stopped, staring at ryan for a beat before adding “a sympathetic face under a party hat what the hell, Ryan?” 

“It’s my birthday.” Ryan defended, yanking the party hat off and setting it on his desk. “It wasn’t my idea!” there was a long, awkward beat, after which Ryan tugged the tray toward him and offered “cupcake?” Gavin’s laugh was shaky, a pained breath under it that caught Ryan’s attention. “Okay, let’s get out back to the sofa. ...Do you eat sugar? I know you have to be really healthy for what you do but I can’t imagine having one of these while I look at...was it your ankle?” 

Gavin nodded, using the table to pull himself to his good foot. Ryan reached for him, and he was surprised how naturally he reached for Ryan, bracing against his shoulder and letting Ryan support him at the arm for a moment. “Feels like ligament damage.” he reported, before putting more of his weight on Ryan and springing forward on his good foot, jumping once then landing, spinning, and pushing himself backwards hard into the sofa. He might have caught a hint of impressed surprise on Ryans’ face before the older man turned away a moment, gathered two vanilla frosted cupcakes and handed them both to Gavin. Then he knelt on the floor and began looking at Gavin’s ankle. 

A new bust of pain shot up Gavin’s leg from his ankle. He yelped and Ryan quickly apologized “sorry, sorry…” he took greater care than. Wrapping the bandage firmly, but with a steady hand. 

Gavin considered quietly for a long moment, studying the man in front of him. For all his softness he was quite the presence. Memory of his laugh and how it filled the room from the other side of the door. How even his gentle touch demanded to be felt. “Funny…” he observed quietly “how I got the flashy job between us.” 

Ryan glanced up, briefly confused, but let it go. “Yeah well, I’d try your job. I just don’t like ankle injuries. Or death.” 

A curse cut short in his right ear, over the comm. The sickening sound of flesh hitting concrete. Gavin shook himself out of the flash memory, demanding through his teeth “seriously?” he took a long breath and, pushing past that memory to make a dig instead. “You don’t like death you’re working for the wrong people.” 

“Or I’m working for the right people. To stop them. Ryan’s answer was fast enough it was clear he had this argument with himself too often.

Gavin hissed at how tight Ryan pulled the bandage just then, half suspecting he’d done it out of irritation. “Sit behind a pretty little desk safe and sound and judge the people making a real difference.” He knew it wasn’t accurate as soon as he’d said it, but he was too irritable as soon as he’d said it, but he was too irritable to take it back. 

“Oh, no, yeah, I have complete safety. You’re right, I’m in no danger at all. Nothing’s going to happen to me if I get caught. I’m all talk no action.” the sarcasm was heavy and blunt and Ryan didn’t hold back. “No you’re the only one here who’s trying to do anything good for the world, completely selflessly taking injuries for the cause. No reason you’d actually want to do something like this. Of course it’s completely altruistic. Adrenaline addiction? What’s that?” 

Gavin started to pull away, to stand up. To walk away. He’d find somewhere else to fix himself. Ryan reached up and gripped him by the hips to slam him back onto the couch. For a long moment the only sound was their breathing. Both ragged, the sudden sniping having taken out of both of them. The moment stretched on, half-eaten cupcake dropped to the floor, long unsalvageable. The nearly two feet between them closed when Ryan shifted up on his knees and Gavin was suddenly very aware of the warmth of another body near his.

Ryan eventually pushed off from his hips and knelt easier. Gavin reached for the second cupcake, peeled off the wrapper, tore it in half and put the bottom on top of the frosting to eat it like a sandwich. Ryan continued his work and Gavin eventually asked “what do you know about it?” 

“It’s not hard to guess.” Ryan answered. “Yo couldn't stop if you wanted to and that’s nothing to do with morals.” 

“It’s everything to do with morals.” Gavin argued. Than, covering “not like you could leave this place if you wanted to. Even if there wasn’t a way you could help, could fight all sneaky. Even if you had to just be a drone you’d stay. Because that’s what security means to you. And that’s nothing to do with morals.” 

“I’d be a street cleaner if I couldn’t help from here.” Ryan mumbled. Then he got to his feet. “It’s been fun arguing philosophy with you, Gavin. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go smuggle an ice pack in here and come up with an excuse if I get caught that doesn’t compromise everything.” 

Ryan left his office. While he was gone, Gavin, injury newly secured by surprisingly well done bandaging, finished his cupcake and climbed out through the office window. Up only a few floors took him to the roof, then down the block and around. His ankle protested, but the bandage held up to the abuse. Gavin stopped on a rooftop across from Ryan’s window just long enough to stop and peer across. He laughed to himself when he saw Ryan kneeling on the floor again, icepack beside him, this time scrubbing up frosting from the carpet. 

\---

They didn’t speak for four years. Messages were exchanged entirely by text and always only business. Ryan thought about Gavin’s visit often. Thought about the way his ankle had purpled with bruising already and how he couldn’t imagine how he’d run off on it like that. He thought about how they’d gotten under each other’s skin, and more than anything else he thought about that moment that passed between them. Thought about how Gavin was a professional acquaintance, nothing more. Someone Ryan only interacted with because his life would be unbearable if he didn’t.

He dreamed about that emotion being more personal. About it being Gavin he needed, not just any runner. Wondered if on some strange level that had become true, it wasn’t like he ever dealt with anyone else. Sometimes he wanted to tell Gavin what the information he was leaking was, but that would be awful for plausible deniability. Not to mention would require coming face to face with the younger man. The younger man whose breathing he could hear in his actual dreams, the harsh sounds taking on a gentler meaning in the fancy of his subconscious. He dreamed that he’d leaned up, closed more space between them, closed all the space between them.

So it was a bit understandable why he couldn’t see Gavin. 

It was pure coincidence that the next time he did, Gavin was running. Ryan happened to be looking toward a skyline from where he took his lunch outside in the spring. A familiar figure cleared the gap between skyscrapers and twisted around onto a cleaners crane, running across it over a busy street. With the sun gleaming off everything and the movements so sure, there wasn’t another way to put it. Gavin was hot. Ryan recoiled from the realization until he reminded himself that kind of athleticism was attractive on anyone. He tracked Gavin’s movements another half dozen blocks or so, until he was barely a speck. 

When he dropped out of sight, Ryan blinked hard. Dropped. Why was his mind insisting on using that word? Gavin was just...too far away, right? A shorter building at worst. A pit of worry sat in his stomach, anxiety twitching his wrists until he stood and headed for his car. 

Finding an even approximate cross street was nearly impossible. All he had was guessing from his naked eye. He wandered around for hours, calling out sick for the afternoon. Gus was less than understanding, but he would have to deal. Ryan pulled up at a cross street that the building looked right for, and wandered around the block for a few moments. 

This was when he noticed his behavior had been noticed. There was a CPD car that had been behind him for a block or five that pulled around and parked just around the corner from where he was walking. Cops usually left runners alone, but that didn’t mean Gavin couldn’t get in a lot of trouble. That he wouldn’t get in a lot of trouble trying to help Gavin. 

He could hear that breathing again. Right at the mouth of an ally. Four years later and he could still recognize Gavin’s breathing from one night where absolutely nothing had happened but some shared pastries. Ryan waited until he was sure he wasn’t actively being watched, then slipped down the ally as fast as he could. 

Gavin was curled up against a wall, holding the same ankle he’d injured that day. His face was stained with tears and he was trembling. Grateful he’d worn a light jacket, Ryan stripped that off now and put it around Gavin’s shoulders. “Gavin.” he asked “I’m taking you to the hospital. What were you carrying?” 

“No.” Gavin insisted “...I don’t know. Ryan…” his voice was small, pleading. 

Ryan nodded. “Do you know any other runners?” 

“I work alone.” 

“Gavin. That wasn’t the question.” 

“I know one.” 

“Alright. I’ll take you home. Leave the package, if it’s small enough no one will be looking for it.” Ryan took a moment to breathe with Gavin, and it sounded just like it did years ago in his office. Until Gavin’s quiet, pained whimper, which pulled him back to the moment. “When we get home, you can give me his info and I’ll contact him for pickup.” Gavin whimpered again and Ryan reassured “It’s okay, Gavin. It’s okay. I’ll take care of you.” 

“...It won’t take my weight at all, Ryan…” and just like that Gavin was crying again. “It’s gone. I...I think I blew my achilles a few months ago and now…” he hissed and shook his head. “I can’t stop, Ryan. I can’t exist in the world and ignore the truth.” 

A million arguments sprang to mind, but Ryan ignored them. “We’ll talk about it later.” he said, stepping in and scooping Gavin in his arms. He was surprised for a moment how much substance the slight frame had in his arms. He’d always thought of Gavin as so small, almost weightless, like a bird. Turns out he’s not quite so hollow boned. Ryan groaned and shifted both of their weight, then refocused and carried him to the car. 

The cops noticed. Ryan noticed them notice. If they noticed Ryan notice they didn’t say anything, but he took a straight route back to his apartment. Halfway there, Gavin interjected randomly. “We’re sleeping together.” 

Ryan startled “Excuse me?” he turned to him, eyebrows high.

“If anyone asks.” Gavin explained. “You’re suddenly suspicious. You’ve contacted me a million times. If anyone asks we’ve been hooking up for years. Put someone in the right mindset your messages seem like remarkably unsubtle pickups.” 

Ryan nodded “alright. I’m with you. I got it.” then he paused, as his own words from years ago came back to him. “Subtlety isn’t my specialty. ...I can’t tell if you’re a genius or the same weird kind of obsessive I am.” 

“Both, probably.” Gavin answered. “No one ever had me tested so I can’t prove anything.” 

Ryan laughed. “Probable genius, terrifyingly athletic. No wonder we were supposedly sleeping together, what can’t you do?” 

“Survive Running.” 

The answer was so abrupt that Ryan actually hit the breaks to stare at him. “Wha…”

“Go!” Gavin prompted, and Ryan started driving again. 

“Gavin. What do you mean?” 

Gavin shrugged. “I mean if I go back this ankle’s going to get me killed. And if I don’t go back my conscious is going to kill me.” 

Ryan bristled “Your conscious or your addiction?” 

Gavin fell into what was probably a sort of petulant silence. “...Probably both.” 

“At least you admit it.” Ryan mumbled, pulling up at his apartment. “At least you don’t think so little of me.” 

“Oh I do.” Gavin corrected. “I also know that’s probably just the cognitive dissonance not ready to admit I don’t just put myself on the line for the greater good.” 

Ryan didn’t respond. Instead he just carried Gavin up to his apartment. He set Gavin down on his good foot, and Gavin leaned on him harder than before. The moment the door was open Ryan thought he was in a dream. Because suddenly the space closed between his and Gavin’s bodies and Gavin’s mouth was on his. He kissed back, pulling Gavin even closer and dragging him inside, shutting the door and pinning him to it, kissing him a moment longer before pulling back and asking “What was that?”

“Selling it.” Gavin answered. “No one will ever believe we’re shagging unless we are.” 

Ryan looked Gavin up and down, hesitating. Eyes dancing over him “So…” 

Gavin made a slightly displeased noise and kissed Ryan again. Then “Are you carrying me to bed or not?” 

Ryan did. 

There was a lot left unresolved. A lot to talk about, or more likely argue about, in the morning. Ryan had a lot of work to do to convince Gavin life as a civilian was worthwhile. Maybe get him in for proper medical care, if they thought he wouldn’t end up in prison or worse if they tried. 

Maybe this excuse could build into something worthwhile on its own. 

Maybe he could find a way to convince Gavin there was another way to live between the gloss and the reality. Find a new way, a subtler way, to feed his addiction to the product of his own brain. That’d be a trick, given the two of them and their respective specialties. Maybe they could take all that fire Gavin had and help him burn this rotted world from within, instead of without. 

Maybe they’d even survive it.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was my very first fic commission from the incredibly sweet stubbornessissues. If it shows too much that I wasn't familiar with Mirror's Edge when I started, I'm sorry. 
> 
> If you're interested in a commission, or even just saying hi, my tumblr and Discord names are also FriendlyCybird


End file.
